The Things I Eat 2016

Well, it's almost been two years since the last one and I thought I'd see what my eating habits are like these days compared to then. What I should do is do this in a different season and see how that compares. Maybe next time.  So let's go, and here's the link to the last one because it's just as exciting to read as the first time.

Breakfast

1. The smoothies are still a staple for me. Same recipe as well except I've since added chia seeds and some turmeric when I'm feeling a little inflamed and like I want to gag myself because it is guh-ross. I'll mostly just mix it into my own private smoothie because others shouldn't suffer so needlessly.  

Additionally, I realized that if I run out of spinach or it goes bad I can use canned pumpkin as my vegetable. I learned that this past fall when i had a surplus of cans of the stuff and couldn't make another pie or batch of cookies. (One thing i did make was pumpkin pudding and it was fab. Or maybe Sean made it? I honestly can't remember. Let's face it, it was probably Sean, but I know i found the recipe. So i did that at least.)

The problem with the smoothie is, of course, once again, my flighty friend the banana never sticks around very long and if I don't have any ready for a smoothie I don't make one at all. It's the only way i want to sweeten it. My dream is to start up a banana delivery business and you can choose how many you want and from which phase of ripeness. I'll create a scale and come up with clever names for each phase.  The ultimate ripe phase could be called "Save Me From Myself,"  for instance. Or, "Banana's Last Breath" or "Bake Me Into Something Now."   The super unripe phase will be "Backburner Banana."   I'm going to have to think more about this but I'm liking this so far.

2. Also toast is fine. An occasional English muffin. But I don't necessarily eat it daily. I have a ton of bread products in the freezer these days and I find that I sleep better knowing I don't have to eat the entire loaf in 3 days.

3. I alternate smoothies with eggs. The incredible edible egg.  Love the eggs. I mostly do poached, sometimes scrambled. Maybe in the middle of toast. Lately Sean has been mastering the crispy egg which is tasty but I can't do myself.  Also, I've lately begun buying bags of peeled boiled eggs because I am a lazy old man and it's awesome.  I do have egg goals though and one is to start trying soft-boiled eggs and eat them in an egg cup. Dream of dreams!

4. For about a year now I've been drinking some hot honey lemon tea every morning. I kept reading things about people doing this and all the benefits it gives and so i tried it and guess what, it's true. It is great. I think the citrus is doing crazy good stuff for me like cancer-prevention (none so far!) as well as with my skin and other things. I do it for my digestion-gets things rolling, a quality I always like in food. And I think it just generally calms my entire digestive tract down.  I can't sing its praises enough, really. I read that you should drink it as hot as you can, first thing in the morn. Food is medicine and I take this one religiously.

5. I also love the pancakes, as mentioned.  

6. Another beloved food item and on the medicinal list? Oatmeal. Ohh bless it.  It's so good for me. My body cheers every time I eat it and my stomach is satisfied for ages.  And you can eat it in so many ways and variations. Oatmeal 4-ever. I usually eat it plain with apple sauce. Unless I'm eating it for dinner (that's right!), which you can read about in a minute...

Lunch

1. Same as 2014, i guess. Veggies and fruits. Scraps. And, of course, fruit and cheese. Though I don't eat nearly as much cheese as I used to. These days I have learned that it's not just the foods that make me feel a certain way but the combos in which I eat them.  Like if i eat cheese as the same time as vegetables, i do so much better. It's so amazing to me! If i could I would go back and major in food science and tell my future self to listen up.  But I love stuff like this. Often I will gear up for eating trash by stuffing a bucket of sugar snap peas into my gullet. Purely for medicinal reasons. 

2. I'll also eat some cashews or a packet of trail mix nuts. Maybe a boiled egg.

3. Also tuna on crackers but this is rare. 

Lunch is sort of the weak link for me. But it's very low pressure which I can handle. The worst is...

Dinner

Newsflash, dinner still sucks as hard as ever.  When I moved to the 'burbs I was like, "now i'll learn to cook! I'll just cook, like everyone else! Do what the people do, you know?"  WRONG. I still hate it. And it's even worse now because i don't have delicious takeout to turn to. It's so depressing. We still eat out or go pick up some burritos but it is NOT...cannot emphasize this enough.. NOT the same.

Also: Julian has entered a fun phase called Not Liking Anything, But I Mean AN-Y-THING.  Boo. 

But for the list's sake, here's our week's dinners so far:

1. In order to bond more and also get myself to actually make real dinners, we started making my pal Brooke a dinner once a week.  This was in the wintertime so it was mostly soups. While several things were good (beef and broccoli, thai curry soup) the outlier is the crockpot tortilla soup with the magic ingredient: The pasilla pepper. OH it's so good.  I've never actually made it in the crockpot as the recipe is too big for our tiny two-man pot. But we make this almost weekly with cornbread on the side.  Julian and I could both eat a pan of cornbread in one sitting. I'm always torn between making him first eat soup before cornbread and letting him immediately have it because it's best piping hot. I compromise by giving him a tiny square of hot bread and then hoards of it after the soup. 

 2. Trader Joe's has an awesome frozen orange chicken that we try to keep handy. And other TJ's frozen things.

3. Turkey burgers.

4. Of course tacos.  I love mexican food because it's all the same food just presented differently!  Want some meat and rice and beans and veggies and a lot of it? Wrap it in a tortilla and it's a burrito.  Want the exact same thing but not so much of it? Put it in a tiny tortilla and it's a taco!  Want a saucy burrito baked in an oven? Enchilada!  No tortilla but extra lettuce? Taco salad! In water and chicken broth? SOUP!   Honestly, I could eat a Mexican variant every day of the week. 

5.  OATMEAL FOR DINNER.  I discovered this a couple of weeks ago when there wasn't much time, i was desperate to just find something we would ALL (*cough* Julian) eat and i had a revelation. Oatmeal bar.  Little bowls set out filled with tiny diced up fruits, bottled peaches, apple sauce, cinnamon, sliced almonds, whatever dried thing you have in your pantry.  Everyone has a good time and once again, the health benefits rule all.  Lately i've been reading about savory oatmeal and i've yet to try it but I'm very intrigued.  

6. Trying to get us invited to friends' houses.  Yesterday a friend told us they had made taco meat but realized they had no toppings whatsoever and wondered if we had any they could use. When i replied we did she then invited us over for dinner because that was the determinant. HAHA!  Brilliant!  So funny.  We brought tomatoes, avocados, chips, whatever else and their pork taco meat was great and it was such a good trade. So fun.  

7. Food trucks!  They come in the warmer months to a park just down the street and we are aghast at how close they are and how few the people are. What the hey? We still don't understand but it's so great. Some are better than others but there are some seriously quality trucks. We get a hodgepodge and eat on a blanket on the grass and nothing makes me happier than a parknic. Then Sean and I play catch with our adolescent-sized mitts and Julian runs around and all is happy and right in the world. The trucks are back now and i plan my week around them.  

8. Bagged salad. All these new-fangled salad kits are such a great invention.  I will never make a salad again unless it means opening bags and dumping.  

Dessert

Brownie in a mug is a frequent friend. Or just plain hot chocolate. I don't have so much ice cream these days, for no reason at all.   But I'll eat anything for dessert, the most important meal of the day.

One thing worth mentioning is I recently found a recipe for custard that I use for everything and it is now my specialty. I feel so culinary too because it's apparently tricky and yet i can do it! i know! You just have to stand and stir for a while. I set out all my ingredients so I can keep stirring while adding and then i can my custard thickening meditation.   But I've perfected the banana cream pie and it's basically the only pie I make now.  Here it is:

1. layer of graham cracker crust (no sugar added! Don't do it!)
2. thin layer of ganache.
3. layer of custard
4. bananas
5. more custard.

and voila.  I've made this pie about 7 or 8 times since last fall and there's no stopping me.    


                                                                      2016!